Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (7 June) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$95.2 billion at the end of May 2000 (end-April: US$93.9 billion) (Table 1).

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of May 2000 stood at US$95.4 billion (end-April: US$94.2 billion).

The Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity, which shows the major components of the foreign currency reserves, will be published on 30 June 2000 in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS).

In terms of foreign currency reserves ranking, Hong Kong is the world's fourth largest holder of foreign currency reserves after Japan, Mainland China and Taiwan (Table 2).

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$95.2 billion represent over seven times the currency in circulation or about 39% of Hong Kong dollar M3, one of the highest ratios in the world.

At present, four press releases relating to the Exchange Fund's data are issued each month. Three of these releases are issued to disseminate monetary data in accordance with SDDS. The fourth press release, on the Exchange Fund's Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account, is made in accordance with the HKMA's policy of maintaining a high level of transparency. For the month of June, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

For further enquiries, please contact:

Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press) at 2878 1480 or
Caitlin Wong, Manager (Press) at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

7 June 2000

Table 1

Foreign Currency Reserve Assets of Hong Kong

(US$ billion)

             Excluding                   Including
             Unsettled     Unsettled     Unsettled
             FX Contracts  FX Contracts  FX Contracts

Dec 95       55.4          1.8           57.2 
Dec 96       63.8          5.7           69.6 
Dec 97       92.8          0.4           93.2 
Dec 98       89.6            -           89.6

Jan 99       90.1            -           90.1
Feb 99       89.8            -           89.8
Mar 99       89.5            -           89.5
Apr 99       89.5            -           89.5
May 99       88.9            -           88.9
Jun 99       88.6            -           88.6
Jul 99       89.1            -           89.1
Aug 99       89.2          0.1           89.3
Sep 99       90.4            -           90.4
Oct 99       90.4            -           90.4
Nov 99       92.1          0.5           92.6
Dec 99       96.3            -           96.3

Jan 00       94.3         (0.1)          94.2
Feb 00       93.1            -           93.1
Mar 00       93.8          0.1           93.9
Apr 00       93.9          0.3           94.2
May 00       95.2          0.2           95.4

Figures for the end of 1995 and 1996 do not include Land Fund figures. The Land Fund was established on 1 July 1997 and its foreign currency reserve assets were included thereafter in the above compilation. The assets of the Land Fund were merged into the Exchange Fund in November 1998.

Table 2

Foreign Currency Reserves Ranking

                     US$ billion       As at end of

(1)  Japan             341.1             May 2000

(2)  China             156.8             Mar 2000

(3)  Taiwan            113.1             May 2000

(4)  Hong Kong         95.2              May 2000

(5)  Germany           87.0              Apr 2000

(6)  Korea             86.8              May 2000

(7)  Singapore         75.4              Apr 2000

(8)  US                67.2              May 2000

(9)  France            65.3              Apr 2000

(10) Italy             46.6              Apr 2000

Sources: HKMA, Reuters, Deutsche Bundesbank, Monetary Authority of Singapore, U.S. Department of Treasury, Bank of Italy.